Stephen King and others have pointed out how horror movies and novels tend to have a right-wing bias: they usually depict the horror of the status quo being disrupted by some evil misfit. So what's a good progressive to rent on Halloween?
Luckily there are a few horror films out there with a progressive slant. Here are my recommendations:
The Fly. The version with Jeff Goldbloom and Geena Davis is a pro-choice parable in which a born-again insect tries to stop Davis from controlling her own body. A stinging response to the anti-abortion classic "The Terminator" released 2 years earlier. (I would vote for Genna Davis over Arnold Schwarzenegger any day!)
The People Under the Stairs. Wes Craven's response to the Regan revolution. The villains are a kinky couple (looking suspiciously like Ron and Nancy Reagan) who are destroying a ghetto, hording up money, abusing their daughter, and keeping oppressed masses in their basement. (No wonder Michael Moore recommended this film in Downsize This!)
The Stepford Wives. The original from the 1970s. Shows us the "family values" crowd's dream come true, properly depicted as a nightmare. Intelligent women strangely get transformed into subservient housewives.
Disturbing Behavior. Could have been called "The Stepford Children". Katie Holmes and James Marsden are victims of a diabolical plot to turn teenagers into parent-pleasing straight-A students who can't think for themselves.
Night of the Living Dead. Classic horror film in which a small band of free-thinkers are chased by mindless masses so conformist, non-thinking, and dangerous, they would probably vote for Bush.
Bless the Child. Staring Kim Basinger and Christina Ricci, this film is like The Omen, except that where The Omen was a vicious and cowardly attack on children, Bless the Child is more pro-youth.
Now, who else has some recommendations?